Two days later, fear still grips Kathmandu
29 April 2015 3:27 AM IST
here is palpable fear on the streets of quake-hit Kathmandu. Groups of residents -- women and children in particular -- huddle in small groups on pavements and in grounds, afraid to return to their homes because of continuing and frightening aftershocks.
Most are exchanging notes on what has hit Nepal. A few are cooking meals or making tea in the open.
“There is no way I am going back to my house,” said a young mother who gave her name as Kalpana. “I cannot get over what happened on Saturday. I will stay put outside till I know for sure that we are safe.”
Another couple said how their house shook violently when the 7.9 magnitude earthquake ravaged Nepal on Saturday, throwing one of them off the bed.
“For a moment we were startled,” said the man, who gave his name as Gurung. “We were on the first floor and made a dash for safety. But it was not easy getting out because the house kept shaking. “We repeatedly bumped our heads against the wall while going down the stairs,” he said.
In Kathmandu’s Thamel area, a favourite with tourists, hundreds of foreign tourists have fled their hotels, some paying as much as 80,000-90,000 Nepal rupees (up to $880) to get a flight out of the country.
The few who have stayed back are sleeping in the hotel lobbies, the memories of the Saturday disaster preventing them from returning to their rooms.
When they do, they do so for a few minutes. Getting out of Kathmandu is not proving easy either. The Kathmandu international airport was first shut for some hours on Saturday and again on Sunday after deadly aftershocks rattled the air traffic control.
Several hundreds of foreigners, Indians included, are camping outside the airport, hoping to get on a flight. “(Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi has said all Indians will be evacuated. We are waiting for that to happen,” an Indian man said in the airport premises.
Many of the Indians at the airport are from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengaluru and Kolkata, a few
who spoke to IANS said.
“We have run out of money,” a woman said. “We are waiting for IAF (Indian Air Force planes).”
Many ATMs in the capital have been crippled by the quake. Kathmandu’s streets were on Monday devoid of any civilian traffic barring the few taxis that charged up to Rs.4,000 for a 2-3 kilometre ride.
Relief work not effective, says Nepal PM
Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala admitted on Monday that the relief and rescue efforts following Saturday’s deadly earthquake was not “effective”.
The “rescue, relief and search operations have not been effective”, Koirala told a meeting of political parties here, and urged the ruling and the opposition to work together “in this national crisis”. The post-management of the Saturday quake that has killed and injured thousands was very challenging, the prime minister said. “This is a big challenge,” he said, adding that it was not an everyday crisis.
Chaos reigns at Nepal’s only international airport
Chaos prevailed at Nepal’s only international airport here on Monday with hundreds waiting to be evacuated from the earthquake-ravaged country as India and other nations scurried to bring back their panic-stricken citizens.
While 2,500 people have been evacuated so far, scores of people, largely Indians were lined up at the Tribhuvan International Airport to board commercial and special defence aircraft to return home.
Given the huge rush, priority is being given to women, children and senior citizens and those injured.
“There is chaos inside the airport as well, people are fainting because of the anxiety and excessive stress. Most of these are Indians,” said Ekta Adhikari, a doctor at the Kathmandu Medical College.
“Until now, 2,500 Indians have been evacuated. Yesterday 15 flights ferried Indians trapped in the country, the exercise will continue till most of these people are evacuated,” Prabhat Singh, a senior official of the Indian High Commission, said.
“M17 Indian choppers have been pressed in to evacuate people from the inner parts of Sindhupal Chowk, Gorkha and Nuwakot districts. Rescue operations in Bhaktapur and Kathmandu are also being carried out by the Indian authorities,” he said.
Almost everybody waiting outside the airport had some or the other harrowing experience to tell.
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